After winning their fourth NBA title of the last decade in 2022, the Golden State Warriors had an up-and-down campaign in 22-23, earning the West’s 6-seed before ultimately losing in the conference semifinals to the Lakers.
The Warriors had hoped they could elevate some of their young players into larger roles, but Jordan Poole wasn’t as effective and was, understandably, a bit disconnected from the team after getting punched in the face by Draymond Green in camp. Beyond Poole’s regression, the Warriors were unable to fill the void left by Gary Payton II and Otto Porter Jr. — to the point that they traded James Wiseman to bring back Payton II at the deadline — and there was apparent frustration from Jonathan Kuminga about his diminishing role as the playoffs arrived.
This summer, the Warriors had to make a decision on their immediate path, as the much-discussed “two timelines” approach was seemingly splintering. Adding to the difficulty of this offseason was the departure of longtime GM Bob Myers, with Mike Dunleavy Jr. being promoted into the lead role of the front office. Any question of what direction they would take was answered before the Draft began, when Jordan Poole was shipped to Washington for Chris Paul, cementing the long-time core as the continued focal point in the Bay.
Here we’ll grade out the Warriors summer in the Draft, free agency and contract extensions, and on the trade market.
Draft: B
The Warriors held the 19th overall pick in this year’s draft and took Brandin Podziemski out of Santa Clara. The sophomore guard was a prolific scorer with the Broncos, averaging 19.9 points per game (and 8.8 rebounds) and hitting 43.8 percent of his threes to become the West Coast Conference Player of the Year. There are questions about his athleticism and what his ceiling is as a player, but if the shooting and scoring touch carries over there figures to be a role for him in an NBA rotation. As our Brad Rowland explained on Draft night, at 19 he felt like a bit of a reach but the fit for him in Golden State is better than most anywhere else, handing out a B- for the selection.
This is a better grade than any other team would’ve received in taking Podziemski, but it’s a good fit. His feel is very good and Podziemski is a dynamic shooter. As a very limited athlete, there are defensive concerns and the chance that he just can’t hold up, but Golden State was the appropriate team to take that risk.
The Warriors also added Trayce Jackson-Davis out of Indiana as an undrafted free agent, which was another addition of a highly productive college player. Jackson Davis averaged 20.9 points, 10.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 2.9 blocks per game last season at Indiana. His question is how effective he’ll be offensively in the NBA as he’s limited as a shooter, but he is a strong rim protector even at 6’9 and can provide a unique lob threat on a team lacking many of those options.
Free Agency/Contract Extensions: B+
The first order of business for the Warriors was re-signing Draymond Green, inking their defensive anchor to a 4-year, $100 million deal to stay with the only NBA team he’s ever played for. While it’s fair to wonder if Green will show slippage by the end of that deal, it’s also worthwhile to keep him around because, as Steve Kerr noted this summer, the Warriors simply aren’t a contender without him. The Warriors believe Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, and Kevon Looney are a good enough core group to be a contender, and it’s a matter of building out the right playoff depth around them to provide the support needed to make a run. While they’ll hope for continued strides from Kuminga and Moses Moody — the latter of whom played well in this past postseason — the Warriors clearly recognized they needed a different group of veteran bench options.
In free agency, they started with Cory Joseph, adding another veteran guard to bolster their backcourt with another capable shooter (Joseph shot 40.1 percent on threes the last two seasons in Detroit). He’ll be a bit of a drop off, especially defensively, from Donte DiVincenzo who signed with the Knicks, but still gives them a useful guard off of the bench. The biggest new addition is Dario Saric, who seems like a terrific fit for the Warriors given his skillset as a connective passer and floor spacer from the power forward (or small ball center) position. In his first season back from an ACL injury, Saric shot 39.1 percent from three in Phoenix and Oklahoma City a year ago and will give Kerr some welcome frontcourt depth. The Warriors struggled mightily a year ago with their non-Looney and non-Green minutes, as JaMychal Green didn’t pan out as hoped. Saric should be an upgrade there, and ought to make the Warriors a bit less dependent (at least offensively) on their top two bigs, although he certainly can’t replace their impact defensively.
Trades: B
The biggest move of the summer from the Warriors was one that caught most people by surprise, as they flipped Jordan Poole to Washington (along with a future protected first round pick, a future second, and Ryan Rollins) to bring back longtime rival Chris Paul. That trade made it clear the Warriors were going all-in on their veteran core, but it isn’t without some risk. Poole had his faults, but he was also their most reliable guard in terms of being in the lineup, playing all 82 games a year ago. He could not find the same level of shooting efficiency as in 21-22, which led to plenty of frustration from fans as he would go through cold spells from three, but the Warriors also lack much in the way of individual shot creation beyond Steph and losing Poole will only exacerbate that. Poole was supposed to be the heir apparent in Golden State but a year into his new deal he was salary dumped, and the organization undoubtedly holds some responsibility for the failure to make it work with him.
That said, they also kind of made their choice with their handling of the Draymond punch situation and if that was never going to get fully reconciled, moving Poole and getting Chris Paul in return was a solid short-term play. Paul is still effective as a point guard, averaging 13.9 points and 8.9 assists per game, but has lost a step and struggled more last season with his finishing and midrange game than we’ve seen since his final year in Houston. He did bounce back to shoot 37.5 percent from three, but is at times a more selective three-point shooter than you might like someone with his shooting ability to be. Paul has never played fewer than 31.4 minutes per game in his career, and as he’s gotten older it has been clear that he goes through spells on the court where he is simply trying to reserve energy. Playing a slightly smaller role with the Warriors could help Paul be more effective more of the time he’s on the court, rather than trying to conserve energy so he can take over in the fourth quarter as needed.
The biggest boost for the Warriors is that they haven’t ever had a second point guard with the passing acumen of Paul. The Warriors are incredibly reliant on Curry and Green to be their offensive hubs, and when teams stymie those actions the offense can get stuck in the mud. Having a third creator for others should make the Warriors even more dynamic as an offense. Paul is very adept at playing off of elite scorers, having plenty of experience alongside James Harden and Devin Booker. Given Curry is a much more advanced (and willing) off-ball player than those two, it stands to reason that he and Paul can pair very well together. Last year, the Warriors became heavily reliant on Curry being on the ball and running pick-and-roll action in the playoffs, which is not Steve Kerr’s preferred offense. With Paul, they should be less predictable and ought to be more difficult to slow down, even understanding Paul might not be the dynamic scoring option he once was.
The Paul trade made clear the Warriors were all-in on trying to keeping the current title window open around Curry for as long as they can. Poole’s dreadful postseason has probably made him undervalued in terms of what the Warriors are losing next season, but the Warriors will hope to lean on their old “strength in numbers” adage to fill that void with multiple contributors rather than a one-for-one replacement with Paul. This was a perfectly solid summer for Golden State and I see the vision of what they’re trying to do with this roster, but the most important thing to their ability to be a contender next year will be health and availability. Paul has dealt with nagging injuries in recent years, and his health will be something the Warriors will want to monitor all year. Curry only appeared in 56 games last regular season, while Wiggins played in just 37, dealing with a personal matter. A full season of Gary Payton II (who played just seven regular season games after the deadline) also should be a boost to their depth. Leaning into building a more veteran roster makes sense for what this team wants to do, but also brings more questions about their ability to stay healthy. If they can navigate that and enter the postseason with a full squad, they should be back in position to make another run at a fifth ring for Curry, Thompson, and Green.
